Off Topic

I am going off-topic again this week. I just want to bring up something that most of you might agree on.

Mostly everything we believe in is based on our perception. The perfect example of this is the “villain” in a movie or a show.

The reason “villain” is in quotations because how do we really know that this person is evil? How do we know that he or she is doing these despicable actions to save their families? It’s because the movie/show makes you perceive this person as evil. Certain movies/shows don’t go in depth into this “villain’s” life and show why or how they became like that. They allow no sympathy for them.

One example is a show from my childhood, Kim Possible. Kim Possible is about a teen heroine who saves the world daily. Her main foes are Dr. Drakken and Shego. Dr. Drakken is pretty much harmless because without his muscle, Shego, he is just a madman. In one of the movies that spun off the show, So the Drama, Kim Possible ends up kicking Shego into the electrical tower. Shego is electrocuted, but since she has superpowers, she is fine and is arrested with really frizzy hair. Had Shego been a normal person, she would have died. Kim Possible wouldn't have been blamed because it would be viewed as "justice" even though a life is lost. What if Shego killed Kim Possible to protect herself? Would it be still viewed as justice?

Another example is in the show The Powerpuff Girls. The Powerpuff Girls is about three young girls, five- or six-year-olds who are artificially created by Professor Utonium, using sugar, spice, and everything nice. He accidentally spills Chemical X into the concoction,  and pow! the Powerpuff girls pop out. They, too, save the day on a daily basis. They practically beat villains to unconsciousness, and I remember cheering and smiling when that happened. When the villains were winning I was upset because I thought "how could anyone treat three young girls like that?" Now that I'm older I understand how biased these plots were. How do I know that the villains aren't just teaching them a lesson, and that they were really protecting the girls from a more sadistic villain. It was because the show wasn't set up like that; it was set up for children to cheer on the girls because they were shown as "good" and to berate the villains because they were "bad".

Have these kinds of movies and shows really taught us  black-and-white thinking? We were taught to quickly judge people because we perceived their actions as bad without knowing the reason behind it.  But as time goes on, we realize that there are no clear, distinct ways to distinguish good from bad. We know it's wrong to kill people, but what if it was to save a loved one? We know it's wrong to steal, but what if a loved one wished for something on their deathbed and you didn't have any money to buy it?

Is it because people believe children are too young to learn about the gray areas of life? I believe by not teaching children about this gray area, children learn to judge people too quickly because other people don't share the same views. Disagree or agree? Write your opinions below and feel free to discuss.